LCHS Reflector Yearbook

GENERAL INFORMATION:The Reflector is the student yearbook published once per year by the students of the Yearbook I, II, III, and IV courses at Louisa County High School. The Student Production Lab is located in Room 261, Louisa County High School, 757 Davis Highway, Mineral, VA 23117. The phone number is (540) 894-5436, extension 1205 and the fax (540) 894-0534. The email address is lchsyearbook@lcps.k12.va.us

PURPOSE: The Reflector serves many purposes to many people. To the students, the Reflector is a memory book and a source of tradition. To those who take the course it is an educational and journalistic experience. The yearbook will maintain high standards of journalistic integrity, accuracy, objectivity, honesty and fair play. The staff will try to make the publication honestly reflect the reality of life, news, sports and culture at LCHS. It is, however, a school publication and is subject to all school board policies and local school regulations. As an educational tool, the publication should provide an insight into the business, design and editorial areas of publishing.

YEARBOOK PORTRAITS

-Senior Portraits: First, the student must be officially recognized as an early graduate by the guidance office. Senior portraits will be taken and submitted by a photography company chosen by the high school and approved by the yearbook adviser. Senior portraits must be taken by the last make-up day provided by the company to be guaranteed publication. Seniors who miss that deadline cannot expect to be included in the yearbook. Any portrait taken by an outside photographer must be turned in by the deadline along with the $20 handling fee. Also, if the picture differs in pose, dress, or quality, it may not be accepted for publication. Boys should be wearing the traditional tuxedo and girls should be wearing the traditional black velvet drape, both facing the camera with no props in hand, no text printed in any corners. The background should be medium grayish blue (NOT black or green). Those portraits taken by outside photographers are not guaranteed publication, so it is strongly suggested seniors use the provided photographer, regardless of where they plan to purchase their own portraits.

Junior/Seniors:Juniors who intend to graduate early may take a picture for the senior section, but they must be officially recognized as an early graduate by the guidance office.

-Underclass Portraits:Underclass portraits will be taken and submitted only by the school's contracted photographer.

Students who miss both the regular and makeup portrait days will not be included in the yearbook. Students who took more than one pose (returned on makeup day to take a second pose) will be represented by the pose the yearbook staff chooses. The staff will make an effort to choose the pose that they believe looks the best. Any portrait deemed inappropriate by the staff for publication will be excluded. If a student wishes to be excluded from the yearbook, he/she must submit a written request to the yearbook staff and it must be signed by one of their parents or guardians. Students who enroll at LCHS after the last picture days will not be included in the yearbook.

Policies and Guidelines

OBITUARIES: We cannot publish an obituary in the yearbook for every student, faculty or staff member who dies in a single year. However, space may be purchased by anyone who wishes to buy a memorial ad.

SALES: All book and advertisement sales are final. Once a book has been purchased, no refund will be given. Damaged books will be exchanged (only if the damage is the fault of the printer, and not the student). Every student will be given a receipt upon purchase, and it is the students' responsibility to provide proof of purchase. The staff will make every effort to maintain accurate sales records and receipts, but mistakes will happen and it is ultimately the purchaser's responsibility to provide proof of purchase.

ADVERTISEMENTS: All advertising/sponsorships must meet Louisa County Public School's guidelines for obscene or offensive material. All copy and art will be judged by these standards. Any ad found to be in violation must be changed or it will not be published. The publications reserve the right to refuse any ad that is libelous, illegal, obscene, irresponsible, inappropriate or in poor taste. The Yearbook staff also reserves the right to edit any ad before publication to ensure the standards and quality of our product. Any student, parent, staff member or organization will be allowed to purchase ads. Non-students, businesses or any person not currently attending or related to an attending student may purchase ads, but the publications asks that those ads be direct business related ads or be used to congratulate student or school successes. The publication staff may limit the number of type styles offered to ad customers and set guidelines for format and style. The publication reserves the right to edit all submitted copy or photographs.

DISTRIBUTION: The staff will keep a database of all students who purchased a yearbook. This database should contain the name of every student who purchased a book. But it is the student who must provide that proof. Each student must sign for his or her book when it's picked up. A book will not be distributed to anyone whose name is not on the list, unless they can show proof of purchase. In order to pick up a book for someone else, you must either be their parent or guardian or you must have that person's identification and a written note from that person. Before writing in the book, students should make sure all pages are present, none torn, falling out or upside down. Once a book has been written in, it cannot be exchanged or returned.

Please remember the LCHS yearbook is produced entirely
bystudentsin the yearbook
class in alearning situation. We are responsible for layout, copy and picture
selection on each page. Our pages are sent to the publisher “camera ready,”
which means that photos, copy, captions and headlines are done at school. Given the limitations of time and budget, it is our goal to give fair
and equal coverage to all aspects of school life, August through March, which
is our final deadline for a May delivery. We then work on the Spring Insert in April and May for a June delivery.

There are, however, some things over which we have
little or no control: pictures that don’t print as well as they appeared on
screen, changed dates, cancelled dates, students who missed both school picture
days due to absences, or items such as senior portraits or PDA ads not
submitted by the deadline.

Consequently, any omissions or errors arepurely accidental and are no way intentional on the part of the yearbook
staff, the adviser or the printer.

Finally, every page
is proofread at least three times before being sent to the printer. We deeply regret
any misspelled words, missing punctuation, misspelled names (and beat ourselves
up about it) and offer our very sincere apologies to anyone affected. Again, it is a student-run publication.

RETRACTION POLICY: Mistakes and errors in the yearbook are virtually impossible to correct after printing. Only serious errors that would involve a lawsuit or other serious legal issues will be corrected. The manner of their correction will be discussed with the principal at that time.

ACCOUNTS PAYABLE: No advertisements will be placed in any publication until payment is made. If a check written for a yearbook is returned, then we reserve the right to hold that yearbook until payment is made. If payment is not made, we reserve the right to sell that book to another customer.

NAME & CLASSIFICATION: The yearbook will use only the official names and classifications (Freshman, Sophomore, etc.) provided to us by the office at the end of August. Students who use nicknames may expect to be listed under their official name, but may be listed under their 'nickname' if it was used by a group sponsor.

IMAGE MANIPULATION: The yearbook staff of LCHS will not engage in digital image manipulation in order to change facts, libel someone or alter reality. Photos may be touched up for presentation, lightened, darkened or otherwise made presentable for publication. Images may be cut out or isolated, but the policy of the staff is that any manipulation or use of a student's image MUST be done in as tasteful a way as possible.

SPORTS & CLUB COVERAGE: The staff will make every effort to include every club, organization and sports team at LCHS, but they must make an effort to work within the deadlines of our production schedule. Each sports team must send the staff a complete schedule (listing game opponents, sites, times, etc.) as soon as it is available, and as complete a schedule as possible should be sent to the staff by the start of the season. This is to ensure photo coverage of the sport's events. Each club/organization/sport will be contacted and scheduled for a group photo appointment. If a group misses the appointment, they must provide the yearbook with a current group photo or they will not be included in the yearbook. Clubs and organizations should provide the staff with a minimum of ten days notice of their events or provide the yearbook with photos of their events. (This however, does not guarantee that we will cover these events or publish the pictures in the book.) The staff reserves the right to determine the coverage and design of every layout in every publication including purchased advertising sections. The yearbook is the product of the staff. They will be taking it to contest and they cannot allow for layout or coverage to be decided by others.